About Jack ... 

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A Leader and Innovator

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You may not know this, but the Kansas City Direct Marketing Association didn’t have an Education Foundation until Jack Schmid and several others decided it was time to help shepherd the next group of marketers. It was a little more than 25 years ago and definitely before the ubiquitous internet, the Education Foundation filled a valuable role to educate, encourage, support, and foster the importance of learning. You could say that the EF was marketing the significance of education.

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Jack is a legend. Those that meet him are immediately smiling. Maybe it’s the twinkle in his eye when he talks about family or of course anything to do with direct mail. He knows everyone and you can’t be at a conference, a stadium, a symposium, or even at the airport without someone stopping to chat. He just has a way about him. One of the comments you’ll hear when others talk about Jack is, “he’s so generous with his knowledge.”  

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An Award-Winning Marketer and Author

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You can read an impressive vitae about Jack’s career, his numerous awards … how about the award from Catalog Age magazine in the early 1980’s? Jack was recruited by Hallmark Cards to start the Hall’s Catalog. Of course it was named the Best Upscale Catalog! Shall we mention the Gold Echo Award, countless AMBIT Awards and the KCDMA’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

We can’t forget author … and not just the nearly 200 articles for the industry magazines (paper and online!) but truly an author whose book, um two books, you can buy or pick up at your library: Desktop Database Marketing and Creating a Profitable Catalog.

 

A Lifelong Educator and Dedicated Mentor

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Jack’s love of teaching, education, sharing knowledge, building others up, making the world better, all combined with his charismatic gift of hospitality make him one-of-a- kind. Over the past 17 years, Jack and his wife Errett have opened their home and hearts to sponsoring an International Officer at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas’ Command & General Staff College. From dinners to special events, this is another way of giving back to our country (Jack was drafted for the Army and worked in intelligence—but that's classified!) and sharing traditions with those from abroad. Definitely friendships that span the globe and the decades.

 

Jack also flexed his mentoring might with Kansas City’s own Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program (HEMP). Jack has been involved for over 15 years and is a favorite Mentor. This formal three-year mentoring program matches entrepreneur mentees with successful learned mentors who foster a coaching and learning environment. HEMP was started Barnett Helzberg, Jr., who was inspired by his relationship with Ewing Kauffman. 

 

Kansas City and the entire direct marketing community are indebted to the contributions made by Jack Schmid. He always provided a way to be kind, share knowledge, celebrate what is great and think about the next generation of marketers.